Chapter 74: Sports Festival: Lunch Break
The trio made their way out of the stadium and followed Kaga since she invited them along for lunch with her family and soon to meet relatives.
Kaga with her Byakugan can see her family still within the VIP section, along with Shoto's parents too. "Shoto, Himiko, your parents seem to be with my parents in the VIP Section. But it seems Uncle Vlad is working currently, so your mom is there"
The two only nodded and were rather happy that their family was all within one area, rather than them scattered within the entire stadium...well...Endeavor was easy to spot with his flaming head.
After a few minutes of walking, Himiko noticed something, "Is it just me, or are there no reporters to where we are currently going through?"
"Reporters have a specific area where they can stay and are not allowed to wander anywhere they please", the one who explained was Shoto. He knew this since his Brother Touya was hired as extra security, so he knew where people were supposed to be.
"Well that's nice, I wouldn't want to be hounded by those people anyway", Kaga said feeling relieved of where they should be.
"Yeah well, I don't think there are any reporters willing to offend you, right~?", Himiko asked in a teasing tone since reporters barely go to Kaga, afraid that they will lose their jobs.
"True...but human greed and stupidity know no bounds, some are desperate for a scoop even if it risks their lives", Kaga said after remembering all those from her previous life of how some stalked celebrities for months just for 'something' to appear.
After a couple of minutes of bantering, they soon found themselves within the doors of the VIP Section that had someone in a suit standing guard.
Kaga didn't know who this person was but the person sure knew the three of them, as he didn't even question them and simply opened the door for them.
The trio only nodded towards the person as a sign of appreciation, and they made their way inside where they found their family members.
The first to notice the trio were Kaga's family, considering how all of them have fox appendages already, which came with the natural hearing ability to hear hundreds of meters away.
"Kaga, Shoto, and Himiko, you're here! Congratulations to the easy for the three of you", Kaga's mom said and she proceeds to hug the three of them.
"Thanks, Mom"
"Thank you for the praise, Aunty Ayane!"
"Thank you~!"
"I already told you to call me Mom, oh well, go and greet your parents they are over there", Ayane said as she points towards Himiko and Shoto's parents who were doing their own thing.
The two of them said their greeting and went away, leaving the mother and daughter pair behind.
"Come, Kaga, your cousins, and Aunt are here! However, I didn't bring your siblings since watching someone bruise another might influence their young innocent minds"
When Kaga heard this she raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean? Are you saying I'm not innocent when I was young!?", Kaga pouted to which Ayane laughed at.
"You're your siblings' source of corruption already, they follow you like some Messiah that has candy with just a flick of a finger...haah", Ayane lamented knowing how her children interact with each other.
But instead of feeling insulted by it, Kaga was rather proud of her achievement, "It's the job of an older sibling after all! Anyway, where are my cousins and Aunt?"
Just as she asked that a pair of twins appeared in front of Kaga who were accompanied by a mature woman who also had fox appendages on her and her children!
"Oh wow! Mom, you never said that my relatives also had fox appendages just like you and me!", Kaga was surprised, but it was a welcome one.
"Your Grandmother's quirk is rather strong on the genetics side of things, but it seems it also accompanies another quirk when it comes to the later generations", Ayane said which meant that her cousins didn't just have a fox quirk.
The trio of mother and daughter eventually reached Kaga and the first to greet was Kaga as a sign of respect, "My name is Kaga Asakura, just call me Kaga, nice to meet you!", Kaga's introduction didn't contain any sort of "High mighty personality", but just a straight-up genuine one.
The one taken back by this was Erina, she had thought that Kaga would somewhat be arrogant in her behavior but didn't expect Kaga's personality to be like this.
"E-Erina Nakiri, it's a pleasure to meet you"
"Oh! I'm Alice Nakira, nice to meet you too! Come, come, you have to taste mine and Erina's dish!"
Alice who introduced herself immediately grabbed Kaga after her short introduction...even Kaga was caught off guard. She was expecting some sort of awkwardness like what happens every "meet the family"
"U-Um wait, I haven't introduced myself to Aunty yet, and who's the red-headed boy there?", Kaga was curious about the red-haired boy but had a feeling she knew who this person was.
"It's fine! Mother wouldn't mind, isn't that right mother?", though when Alice looked all she saw was her mother 'smiling' towards her. "S-See? It's fine, now let's go! And the boy? Well, he's Erina's friend!"
As Alice said this, she simply pulled her sister and Kaga along while they were still stunned about how fast everything was going. Soma seeing this simply followed along and wanted to see where this was going.
But before they could disappear Kaga called out, "Himiko, Shoto, let's go! We'll be tasting food!".
Shoto and Himiko immediately followed since the allure of food was enough to get them interested...meanwhile Garuda who was still on Midnight's shoulder ended up eating with her...since Kaga forgot to call him back.
"Fufufu~ Ayane, your daughter truly is free-spirited and not one to go by formalities", Mana said after analyzing Kaga.
Most of the time, someone with Kaga's power would make one arrogant or even look down on others. However, Kaga was neither of them, which intrigued her.
"Indeed she is, she wasn't too fond of her formal etiquette classes so I didn't force her, but I still instilled all the proper manners that a child must learn. Especially one with our status, I didn't want my little Kaga to grow into those spoiled brats", Ayane explained.
"Well, it ended well, didn't it? Anyway, with our status we don't really need to be overly polite to anyone, we only need to show genuine respect towards a person and it would already be fine", Mana said.
"I guess, anyway...where's your husband? I don't see Azami this time round."
"Oh, he's busy trying to challenge Joichiro in cooking once again...since apparently, Joichiro got full stars from Erina in dish tasting, while Azami only managed to get 3/4 of it. So to him, his pride as a father won't let it die down"
"Well, you choose to marry a Chef"
"Ohh well"
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Meanwhile...
Kaga was currently having a tasting with her two friends, Shoto, and Himiko. The dishes prepared by Alice and Erina were heavenly to the taste, Kaga was greatly satisfied, to say the least, however, she wouldn't really crave it.
"What are your quirks again?", Kaga asked as she forgot what they said while she was in the process of eating the dishes they prepared.
"Shaper! I can shape anything I want, and even shrink their sizes to my liking. For example, this box-shaped watermelon, it was an ordinary watermelon, but with my quirk, I changed its shape. My quirk is perfect for cooking, especially in molecular gastronomy!"
"My quirk is Divine Senses, by tasting, smelling, seeing, touching, and hearing, I will know the mistake that was committed, I use my quirk to the maximum when cooking."
"And my quirk is Instinct! When I activate it my body moves on its own and does everything that I know and practiced without mistake, perfectly wonderful when cooking!", said a red-haired teenager suddenly.
'Well...aren't you guys just a gold mine!?', Kaga thought but held herself back, for now, she didn't want to think of power when she is spending time with the family.
"I see, well here's my judgment of what I just ate. They're all great dishes, really, but here's the thing. We are foxes, correct?", Kaga asked who received a nod from her two cousins.
"And as foxes, we sense emotions within things easily, especially things that were made by people or people themselves in general.
Alice's dish was wonderful for the reason that it was a whole entire experience, I ate Alice's dish with a whole new experience in how I eat food since your expertise is under molecular gastronomy.
But the emotions under it are not to my liking, it's almost as if the dish is a model going on a runway. Must only be viewed for its elegance, not to be communicated with.
Erina's dish was perfect in every sense of the taste, fragrance, texture, and even temperature, however, your dish was intimidating in all aspects.
It wasn't inviting a person to eat, it was more like the person who you were serving to must pray to it like a God. A priceless painting behind a glass of the sort. It's not comforting, to say the least.
Overall, if I were to rate your dishes, it would be perfect in itself. But would I go back to eat your food? Nope, I wouldn't.
No matter how great the food is, I won't be coming to crave your dish again since your way of cooking is just too...elegant"
The moment Kaga finished her judgment, all she came to see were Alice and Erina with shocked faces, especially since they did not expect such a harsh critic from the cousin they just met.
Soma on the other hand was nodding to what Kaga just said, he is the opposite of what Alice and Erina are. He served with his Father and Mother in a special-of-the-day restaurant, they essentially serve the needs of the people, no matter who they are.
"Y-You!", Erina can only say that much before Kaga interrupted her, "Look, I will give you an example, I will cook a simple fried egg. I want to see you even try and eat it."
Kaga simply wanted to cook an egg to quickly prove her point, she just plans to cook and douse the egg with overflowing emotions of pride. But it seems she wouldn't be able to.
"A simple fried egg? I guess that just shows all the skills you amount in cooking then", Erina suddenly retorted, she wouldn't take what she just heard without defending her honor.
Himiko hearing this had her "fun" senses tingling, "Nee~ Shoto, you want to bet that Kaga will absolutely crush them?"
"Haah...well, even if I don't have fox parts like Kaga, I was still rather intimidated by the dish. Everything would have been fine with just a plate of cold soba. But yes, Kaga will crush them", Shoto said as he too expressed his opinion.
Himiko ignored Shoto's want for cold soba and instead was observing Kaga's reaction, suffice to say the temperature around Kaga was dropping to the point that the table had subtle layers of frost.
'I didn't insult your skills...but here you came and insulted mine', Kaga thought to herself.
Kaga didn't say anything further and just went to the stove and whipped out a fresh salmon from her storage space, along with it came a pack of licorice candy...a weird combo.
Soma who saw this was intrigued and interested since licorice is something of a bitter candy but also has sweet, salty, and sour flavors to it.
Alice who was with Erina, on the other hand, felt different the moment Erina discredited Kaga's cooking even though they haven't witnessed it, it was still a low blow.
"Hey, Erina, don't you think you should apologize? She was only critiquing our dishes anyway, and didn't Granpa already say the same thing that she said?", Alice said while looking at her sister.
"*Sigh* It seems I was too caught up and let my emotions take the best of me, I better apologize", Erina said but when she looked at Kaga who has just finished filleting the fish stopped in her tracks.
When Erina looked towards Kaga, she felt a dense amount of emotions with every action Kaga took, it was almost as if Kaga was marinating it in emotions!
Erina now didn't know what to do and was now looking towards Soma for help since he's the friendly type, "Just wait.", was all Soma said as he was too busy watching Kaga cook.
'Licorice huh? What happens if I melt that into a sauce and mix it in with peanut butter...would the squid actually come to life or disintegrate?', Soma thought to himself and could only grin evilly at his newfound ideas...and victims of tasting.
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KAGA'S POV-
'You're an ant. You're an ant. You're an ant. You're an ant. You're an ant. You're an ant. You're an ant. You're an ant. You're an ant. You're an ant. You're an ant. You're an ant. You're an ant. You're an ant. You're an ant. You're an ant. You're an ant. You're an ant. You're an ant. You're an ant. You're an ant. You're an ant. You're an ant. You're an ant. You're an ant. You're an ant. You're an ant. You're an ant. You're an ant. You're an ant. You're an ant. You're an ant. You're an ant. You're an ant. You're an ant.'
'You're an ant.', was all I was thinking and flooding the process in making the dish with emotions that emit a feeling of inferiority to those that ate it.
I'm making a salmon dish that's paired with licorice, pickled vegetables on celery root, and fennel puree.
I unknowingly found a weird but good pairing with Salmon and Licorice. I discovered it when I was eating salmon for lunch and having the aftertaste of licorice still stuck in my mouth from eating the candy moments prior to lunch.
I was multitasking in what I was doing, pan-searing the fish while other ice constructs are prepping the other parts of the dish, mainly the pickled vegetables, puree, and the sauce that is made up of licorice and other components.
Some minutes later I just finished the dish in record time, I was in a trance of some sort, I don't know how my cousins are going to feel when they eat my dish, but, fu-ck 'em is my current emotion.
As I walked towards them with my finished plate, I was glaring at them with cold eyes that translated to 'You're beneath me'. It was the finishing touch to the plate.
They make food that makes people feel as if they are in a museum, then I'll make food as if a God is staring down at you...wondering if you are worthy to even have a piece of his blessing.
As I placed the food down in front of the two with a Soma curiously staring at it too, with my ability to sense emotions I can already tell that the feeling of the dish was already taking effect.
"Here.", what? You expect me to play kind to ruin the effect and say bon appétit? Of course not!
I can hear their hearts thump, smell their sweat, and feel their emotions. "Pan-seared Salmon with pickled vegetables on celery root and fennel puree, and licorice sauce"
As I said my piece they didn't do anything apart from staring at what I just cooked, to which I smirked.
A few moments of staring at the food...
"See my point? That's what people feel when they eat your food, I only amplified the feeling. Anyway, it was nice knowing the two of you, but I still have a match to go to. Hope we meet again~!", Kaga said as she left the room with Shoto and Himiko, but not before 'touching' them on the shoulder to store their quirks and simply used [Rewind] on them to bring their quirks back.
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3RD PERSON-
The moment Kaga and her friends left, Erina, Alice, and Soma were the only ones left within the room. To break the awkwardness of it, Soma spoke.
"Well, well, that dish Asakura-san made is something else! It makes me feel small!", Soma said as he went to the dish and poured the sauce of black liquid.
"What are you doing?", Erina asked as she looked at Soma.
"Eating?", he looked at Erina as if looking at someone with a few screws loose, 'What do you want to do with the food? Stare?'
"You don't feel the aura around the food!?", Alice asked as she stared at Soma in shock, with Alice and Erina also being sensitive to emotions they could feel what Kaga felt as she created her dish.
"I do, but, so what? She made it that way so that you two can learn from it, I bet she's the type to cook for fun", Soma said as he placed a piece of the succulent fish inside of his mouth.
*Cue the illusion!*
"HAHA! UMAI! This is something else, you just have to ignore the feeling when you eat it! It feels like God judges me as I eat, that's something else!", Soma said as he enjoys the food in front of him.
Soon enough, the twins gave in to their curiosity and steeled their hearts to also taste the dish. The moment they had a piece of the dish, they too were illusioned.
The illusion was them being judged in a holy courtroom as a holy figure in golden light stares at them as they eat.
"*Huff* That was intense", Erina said as she came out of the feeling, 'So this is what grandfather and cousin meant'
"This tastes amazing, who knew candy and fish can go together!?", Alice exclaimed...already ignoring the oppressive feeling.
"Erina, let's visit Kaga after the Sports Festival, I can tell cooking isn't her hobby, so, Let's get to know her!", Alice suggested something which she didn't know was dangerous.
"Hmph! Fine", Erina agreed to the suggestion, right now their future selves are cursing at them for their suggestions since their future selves were currently strapped to a seat in a sports car traveling at speeds of 300km/hr...even as they traveled in bends.
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(CHEERS! Sorry for the late update, I was just constantly sleepy for the past few days, but today I powered through. Anyway, enjoy the chapter!)
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone